Spiritual Fathers?

1 Corinthians 4:15 “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”

When Paul talked about spiritual fathering, it is important that we understand that it wasn’t about someone “CALLING” him a spiritual father; but more about the care, and having the heart of the FATHER through impartation.

Philippians 2:19-20 says “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.” And 2 Corinthians 8:16 “But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.” Jesus told us to call no man your father on the earth, meaning spiritual father, because God is your father. But many have forgotten what Jesus said and have made IDOLS of men as their source for fathering. If God is calling you a father in the Spirit, know that he is calling you to have his heart and care for his sons that are looking to you to point to the FATHER as the source.

No Longer Orphans

John 14:18 says ” I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” The word “comfortless” comes from the Greek word “orphanos” where we get the word orphan. It means to be fatherless, bereaved, or parentless. Jesus says then in John 14:18 that “I will not leave you “fatherless”: I will come to you.” Jesus then is a father to those who come to salvation. Receiving the Holy Spirit is also receiving the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry ABBA, Father! We are no longer bastards, but Sons and Daughters. The Prophet Isaiah says of Christ in Isaiah 22:21 “…and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.” JESUS who was the Son of God becomes a Father, because he was an obedient Son to the Father, Isaiah calls him “The Everlasting Father”. In the Old Testament, orphans were special to God in so much that he always wanted them taken care of: Deuteronomy 14:28-29 says “At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.” It’s the responsibility of those who have been birthed with the care of a Father to embrace those spiritually that don’t have that model before them. If there is an “orphan spirit” it is because there wasn’t a true model of fathering as it pertains to the heart of God.

1 Corinthians 4:15-17 says “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” Fathers impart into sons, something is birthed into sons. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.”

-Anthony D. Booker